Buzz Bands

It's 11 p.m.; do you know where your English teacher is? If he's Jamie Tepper, he might be onstage, wearing a fiendishly grinning mask, working his laptop and performing under the whimsical name of Raspberry Cocaine. The music -- damaged, driving electro doused with samples -- is home-recorded and self-released (and has even earned some airplay on Indie 103.1). "But it's not really conducive to a live show," Tepper says. "Who wants to watch a guy and his laptop?" So the 32-year-old Hollywood High teacher concocted what he calls "a multimedia spectacle." Working from beside a large screen, Tepper triggers his music plus a slide show of carefully curated images, including album covers, historical photos and pop culture ephemera. In front of the screen, actress/performance artist Princess Pop (a.k.a. Audrey Malone, pictured) mimes, lip-syncs and dances accordingly. "I leave a lot of it up to interpretation, but I do want to say something," Tepper says of the sometimes stark sequencing of images and Malone's interaction with them. "We're kind of aghast at this whole celebrity culture, and we don't feel like there's very much being said. People sometimes are taken aback, but, hey, in some ways Hitler and Britney have a lot in common." Tepper acknowledges his bedroom recordings have gained more traction than he expected. "So far, it's kind of exactly what I hoped it would be." Live: tonight at the Silverlake Lounge. ALSO CHECK: Amoeba Music's benefit for Darfur brings singer-songwriters to the Hotel Cafe on Saturday, including Quincy Coleman and Brandi Shearer. . . . Robert Francis entertains Tuesday at the Silverlake Lounge. . . . Sara Lov of Devics opens for Magnet on Wednesday at the Roxy. More on the blog: latimes.com/buzzbands.